Sometimes you just have to go the extra mile … and when I say the “extra mile” I really mean a whole lot of miles.

Yesterday my wife, Lily, and I went on a road trip. They make movies out of these sorts of events. … I don’t think our road trip will make the movies, but it was quite a trip. 

We were on vacation but I needed to return home to do a funeral for a dear lady in my church. 

Here’s a question: How far would you travel for someone else? 

That question was asked a long time ago in the 60’s by a cigarette company called Camel. They ran an ad where they asked the question, “How far would you travel for a Camel?”

And that’s right, they used to advertise for cigarettes in newspapers, magazines and on television. Those ads didn’t even come with a warning from the surgeon general.

It was a different era back then. But the question in the commercial was to entice smokers to think that going out of their way to purchase Camel cigarettes was worth it. 

It was worth it for us to take that road trip yesterday. It was a chance for me to speak to a family about the hope they can have because of Christ, despite the sadness of their day.

We set out from our cottage at 5:30 am and drove to Kingston. It’s almost 500 km, and it takes about 5 hours to drive. 

We knew we would have to drive through Toronto during rush hour and so we decided to take the toll road that goes above the city. It helped make that part of the trip painless. The pain will come later when we get the bill from the 407 ETR.  

We spent the next six hours in Kingston. It was like I was back to work and done with vacation. 

Many people I saw asked me how our vacation was going, but I wanted to reply, “Wait – I’m still on vacation?” 

Yes, I was back home, and at the church where you would usually find me when I’m working, but I was still very much on vacation. 

Most people try to avoid doing work when they’re on vacation. Some people even have automated email messages letting everyone know that they are away and will not respond until they get back. Some even say they won’t respond – period. You better email them again when they return.

Certainly I try not to work when I’m on vacation, but for some things, for some people, you have to make an exception.  

This family was an exception I was willing to go that extra mile for.

When it was all done, the sun was still high in the sky, about 3:45 in the afternoon. And though we had originally thought we would stay overnight at home and return to the cottage in the morning, we decided to head right back.

We figured the drive would be an extra long one because it was the start of a long weekend, but the trip ended up being as easy as the one we had taken in the morning.  

We arrived back at the cottage at 9:30 pm, sixteen hours after we had left. 

We were back on vacation.

Here’s the thing: Christ went the extra mile for all of us. He died on a cross to pay for our sins and rose again to offer us a relationship with God and eternal life. Was it worth it? It definitely was. But for us to benefit from what Christ did, we each have to have a relationship with Him. Make sure you’re benefitting from all that Christ did for you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you gone the extra mile for lately? Leave your comments and questions below.